The Unofficial Zootopia Prequel
by yugifrozenfan
Summary: A story set before the main events of the film focusing on Judy's parents. Where they're from, how they met, the whole shebang. Canon-compliant.
**AN: I'm back again with another story, this time in the Zootopia fandom. I'm trying an "All There In The Manual" type story (meaning it covers a backstory before the film. In this case a character backstory this time, focusing on Judy & her family before we meet her at the community play in the movie proper) this time after some mental workings, I think I FINALLY got it down. Zootopia is owned by our friends at Disney (I did see the movie and thought it was good).**

Bonnie Carrotfield was never really a city gal, or rabbit, in this case. To her, the city was big, intimidating and overall, loud. But having grown up in Zootopia itself, you eventually get used it. But eventually, feeling uncomfortable with the lack of rabbits in Zootopia proper, she decided to pack her bags and move to the outskirts of town, Bunnyburrow. Running the idea by her parents, naturally, eyebrows were raised. "Where are you gonna live in this Bunnyburrow?" her father asked.

"Probably find a roomate or something", she responded. In fairness, her father did have a point. Where would she live? On the street? No sir. She'd have to find a rabbit who's willing to rent out a guest burrow.

"What are you gonna do for work?" her mother inquired.

"Well, the residents in Bunnyburrow are farmers by trade", she said. That settled it, nope, she wasn't moving to Bunnyburrow, at least, not for a while. Eventually, after a couple more days and scrapping together enough funds to even make the move, she ran the idea by her parents again and this time, they conceded. Next day, she found herself on the next train to Bunnyburrow, her entire life was packed up with her.

When the train pulled into Bunnyburrow Station, she was stumped, wondering where to go or what to do first. Well, obviously, first thing to do first was obviously, find a place to spend the night while she looked for her own burrow, that is, if she wanted to look for her own burrow. She walked down the couple miles to the street and saw how rural the place actually was. It's like she told her parents, everyone was a farmer and seller by trade here, meaning if she did room with somebody, she'd have to earn her keep, meaning contribute aide around the farm and help with the family life and all that. She walked a couple more miles when she saw somebody coming up to her, more like running to her. She stopped walking and held out her hand to greet the running rabbit. "Bonnie Carrotfield", she said. The runner stopped and took it.

"Sam Rabbitstrong", the male rabbit said. "New here?" he inquired.

"Yes", Bonnie responded, adding that she didn't know a single rabbit or had any job experience to bring to the table, adding she was a fashionista in her mother's boutique in Zootopia, where she lived. At first, she was afraid her new-found friend would turn in disguist and continue on his morning jog as if he'd never stopped but surprisingly, Sam listened to all this with rapt attention before deciding on something.

"Well, you're in luck. It's really tough running a farm all by yourself, believe me. So I took out an ad in the Bunnyburrow Gazette, announcing that I was hiring for some farmhands. No takers, none, zilitch, zip! The others that DID show up for interviews ultimately lacked certain skills I was looking for. How much can you lift?" he asked. Bonnie was stumped.

"Lift?"

"Let me rephrase that. How many POUNDS can you lift?"

"About 260 pounds. I may be a tiny bunny but when you're lifting boxes of new orders and taking them in, you adjust accordingly", she said. Needless to say, he was surprised so he hired her on at $30 a day but when she said she didn't have a place to live, he revised that.

"Okay, since you don't have a place to stay, I have a spare burrow I was hoping to use for the farmhands I hired. Since you're hired, you'll live in the burrow", Sam said. They shook on it.

After finishing his jog, Sam took Bonnie to his farm, Rabbitstrong Farm, and took her through the duties she would be preforming as his farmhand. "Farmhand 101", he termed it. He also showed her the burrow she would be living in. "Normally, you would be renting the burrow but considering the circumstances, you will not be charged rent", he declared.

"Thank you", Bonnie said.

"No prob", Sam replied and went into the main burrow to give Bonnie some time to settle into her new life. Over the next few months, with Sam's tutelage, Bonnie had become an excellent farmhand and adept at both farming and selling. Eventually, she had racked up enough money to try and start her own farm but she hestiated because she didn't want to leave Sam and his farm because he was the first rabbit to actually give her a chance. So, like before, she stuck around on his farm but unlike last time, Sam actually insisted that she leave, explaining that he felt he taught her everything he knew about farming. Bonnie conceded and thanked Sam for his help, packed up her stuff and set off to look for a burrow she could buy with her hard-earned funds. Eventually, she found a burrow right across the road that was for sale and sure enough, she bought it, starting up Bonnie's Farm in the process.

For the first couple days, she had little-to-no business but as Sam explained, it blooms by word-of-mouth and sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Bonnie's carrots were becoming so well-known that even TOURISTS made sure they didn't leave without buying some first. This caught the attention of Stu Hopps, heir to Hopps Family Farm, owned and operated, obviously by the Hopps family. Since everyone was raving about Bonnie's carrots, he decided to see for himself if they were as good as the populace claimed they were. She was packing up when he approached her stand. "Got time for one more customer?" he asked.

"Sure", Bonnie said, never one to turn down a customer, even when closing up a business. "How many?"

"One carrot, please", Stu ordered. Bonnie got the carrot and placed it on the table, ringing it up for him.

"That'll be $.20", she said. Stu paid the amount and started to munch on the carrot and it turned out it was as good as everyone was raving about.

Eventually, the two rabbits set up a common rapaport. Stu, as it turned out, was a Bunnyburrow local and was expected to take over Hopps Family Farm from his own folks when it was his time as the first-born. He was surprised when Bonnie told him she came from Zootopia proper and didn't really like it there. They both shared a mutual distrust of foxes as well. Eventually, the two started dating and eventually, it was time to meet the parents. While Stu's parents liked Bonnie almost immediately, Bonnie was wondering how her parents would react to bringing a boyfriend home. She hadn't contacted her parents ever since she moved out to the country and was afraid how they would react but the only way to find out how was to just to call them. She did and they were estatic to hear from her and asked her how she was doing, the standard 'catch-up' questions but less estatic when she told them she had gotten hitched. At first, her father thought that meant she had gotten married but when she clarified it in the boyfriend sense, he said, "I wanna meet this rabbit." Her mother agreed before disconnecting the line, but not before wishing her a good night. Bonnie hung up the phone and sighed, knowing that Stu would have to work hard to win over her father.

Next day, Stu found himself sitting next to Bonnie on the train to Zootopia to meet Bonnie's family. He wanted to make a good impression but Bonnie's call to her folks told that her father was or would be hard to please. The train pulled into Zootopia Station and sure enough, her folks were there, waiting to greet the couple. While Bonnie's father greeted the couple warmly, her father kept shooting Stu glances from the truck on the way to their house. When they got there, he sent the women away and turned to Stu. "Sit", he said. Stu sat down on the couch and was grilled by Mr. Carrotfield about his line of work and whether or not he'd be a perfect fit for his daughter, having discouraged a lot of potentional boyfriends in the process. Stu answered every question as honest as possible, which earned him Mr. Carrotfield's seal of approval. "Well, it looks like you have my approval, unlike the previous one", he said.

"You mean, I'm not the first?"

"Nope. Some high-class rabbit was. I scared him off."

"So, does that mean, if I wish to, I can marry your daughter?"

"Course you can! I had to test you first. That's why I was acting all mean to you", he admitted and they all had a good laugh about it later. Eventually, a couple days after that visit, Stu popped the question to Bonnie and she accepted, taking his name in the process and becoming his business partner in the Hopps Family Farm business. A year after that, Bonnie found out she was expecting her first kit at a surprisingly fast rate. The first birth was a home birth and when Stu heard the screams from outside the house where he was tending the carrots. Apparently, he got inside slowly because by the time he had one paw inside the house, the birth already occurred.

"So, what shall we call her?" Bonnie had asked. Stu had turned white and next thing he knew, he was picking himself off of the floor.

"What?"

"What shall we call her?" she repeated, indicting the little lump in her arms. Stu had a name already in mind.

"How about Judith?"

"I was thinking the exact same thing", Bonnie said as the little lump began to move around in her arms.

 **AN: That's It! That's It! I originally intended for this to be longer but I figured that I'd cut it short for two reasons: 1. it was getting too long & 2\. I'd figured the prequel should focus more on the parents. I MIGHT continue this in another story pending ideas. R&R!**


End file.
